The NST
article on PM’s visit to Japan yesterday should be compulsory reading
for all Cabinet Ministers, who should collectively resign to give Abdullah a
free hand to end the farce of a “half-past six” Cabinet

(Parliament,
Tuesday) : Yesterday’s New Straits Times
journalist Fauzlah Ismail wrote a report on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s visit to Japan last week which should be
compulsory reading and critical discussion by all Cabinet Ministers for
their weekly meeting tomorrow to lift them out of their “half-past six”
malaise.

Entitled “Broaden
horizons during trips abroad, says Abdullah”, Fauzlah started with the
observation: “Trips abroad, be it official or working visits, are not just
about the fixed itinerary. It is about observing the culture of the
countries visited and finding those that can be emulated back home.”

Fauzlah said that
Abdullah used his fourth visit to Japan since taking office in 2003 to
observe what the Japanese do best and what examples he could bring home for
Malaysians to emulate.

Clearly what
struck the Prime Minister most was the culture of maintenance in Japan,
causing him to ask newsmen covering his five-day visit last week:

"Did you
check their toilets? Did you notice how clean the city is?"

He was impressed with the
Japanese culture of maintenance, especially of public buildings and places.

Fauzlah wrote:

"Indeed, the toilets, especially
at the Narita International Airport where millions of local and foreign
passengers go through, and the city were impeccably clean."

Another part of Japanese culture which struck Abdullah was queuing. Fauzlah
quoted the Prime Minister:

"Do you see
people or cars jumping queue? The queue may be long but they still wait
their turn."

There was a third thing about the
Japanese which impressed Abdullah - when the Prime Minister reminded of the
Malaysian habit of passing the buck to others.

"This has to stop. The
departments and agencies concerned must take responsibility. Whoever is
responsible must know what he is responsible for and take action without
being told to do so."

Fauzlah posed a most pertinent
question to the Prime Minister – why, after 50 years of bilateral relations,
have Malaysians yet to learn all these from the Japanese – but Abdullah had
no reply except to say: "That’s an interesting question" and to express the
hope that the 14,000 Malaysians who stayed in Japan for training and studies
under the Look East Policy would go home and continue with what they learnt
in Japan.

Why must Fauzlah article be
compulsory reading and be the subject of critical discussion at tomorrow’s
Cabinet meeting?

Very simple – Fauzlah has
inadvertently zoomed in on the critical flaws of leadership and governance
in Malaysia in the past 50 years.

The lack of the culture of
maintenance is too painfully self-evident from the almost daily reminder
government building or public construction defects, whether falling
ceilings, cracked walls, burst water and sewerage pipes, air-con and power
breakdowns, and now horror of horrors, the revelation that government
buildings like the troubled-starred world’s second largest court complex in
Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur does not have and does not need CFs!

The Prime Minister has been
talking about a culture of excellence and towering Malaysians, but 50 years
of the national education system have failed to impart to Malaysians the
most basic toilet training to the extent that Abdullah has to look with envy
at the Japanese toilet system in all his four visits to Japan as Prime
Minister.

There is no culture of
responsibility, don’t mention the tradition of hara-kiri, for Ministers to
boldly accept responsibility for failures or setbacks in their Ministries –
vividly illustrated in the current season of man-made mishaps and disasters
in the various Ministries.

Fauzlah rightly pointed out that
Abdullah was the minister in charge of implementing the Look East Policy
when it was introduced 25 years ago.

If after 25 years, Abdullah has
failed to get Malaysians to emulate the Japanese qualities of the cultures
of maintenance and responsibility, what hope is there that he would succeed
now unless something extraordinary is to take place in the Cabinet tomorrow.

Is Abdullah prepared to do
something extraordinary at the cabinet meeting tomorrow by asking all the
Cabinet Ministers to collectively resign to give him a free hand to appoint
a new Cabinet to end the national farce and charade of a half-past six
Cabinet and administration?